I went to a friends home last week for tea and scones and she served this Lemon Curd that is so outragous that I went to town, bought a huge bag of Lemons and I'm canning lemon curd this morning.

This is a quintessentially British teatime favorite. It is a sweet yet tart, velvety spread that is heavenly on scones, muffins and tea breads. it also makes an excellent filling for layer cakes or baked tartlet shells. Lemon curd keeps up to 2 months in the refrigerator so can be made well ahead of time.

Wash lemons and using a shredder or tiny grater, shred the peel into a tupperware bowl with lid then stick the tines of a fork in the lemon ONCE and put the lemons in the microwave to heat up slightly. Cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice into a strainer suspended over a bowl. The strainer will catch the seeds before they fall into the juice. Squeeze all the lemons then measure the juice. I doubled the recipe and it turned out wonderful!

In a medium saucepan, combine the lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the butter and stir until it has melted. Remove the mixture from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Beat the eggs into the ROOM TEMPERATURE lemon-sugar mixture until well blended and place over low heat. Bring to just below the simmering point and cook stirring constantly for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and coats the spoon.

Mmmmmm yes, it is a British favourite, especially with this Brit! I always have a jar in my fridge and prefer it to jam. FOr some reason it is nice with cheese. I use to sandwich my Victoria Sponge cakes together instead of jam too.

Mmmmmm yes, it is a British favourite, especially with this Brit! I always have a jar in my fridge and prefer it to jam. FOr some reason it is nice with cheese. I use to sandwich my Victoria Sponge cakes together instead of jam too.

Hi PrettyKitty: We, too are using the curd in place of jam. Haven't tried it with cheese so I'm going to do that. Do you sweeten the cream cheese? I've hurd of "clotted cream" (which I think must be like cream cheese) and curd. Do you make your own curd or do you buy it? I haven't seen it in our stores as "curd." We can buy cans of "lemon pudding/pie filling" but the curd seems to have a completely different taste and texture. I do love both.

I made a lemon cake recently and used the curd between the layers of the cake and just spooned sliced fresh strawberries that were sweetened with a bit of sugar and a bit of whip cream over the cake... To die for!!!! is how good that was.

I also made a sugar cookie recipe and lined the tiny muffin cups with cookie dough and baked the cookie and just before serving I added the lemon curd with just a bit of whip cream and it was wonderful. I'll do that again but you can't add the curd until just before serving as the cookie soaks up the moisture and won't hold together if you assemble the dessert too early.

I love clotted cream! British Air always served it with scones! Its really like very heavy thick cream but doesn't taste like cream cheese. It is sweeter and richer. Can you buy it in the US?

Lorette: I'm sure we can buy it "somewhere" but probably NOT in our little town. If I went to the city to a huge store that sells everything from snails to deep fried cockroaches they'd have it. Thanks for explaining WHAT it is. All this time I thought it was probably cream cheese but it sounds like it's Whipped Cream that isn't whipped. When I was a kid my mom bought farm fresh WHOLE milk from our friends who owned dairly cows. The cream in the milk would rise to the top of the gallon jar and it was like pudding it was so thick. My mom would whip it and add a bit of sugar and it was wonderful. My MIL always talked about HER mother taking the cream off the top of the milk and putting it in a bowl on the back of the wood stove until it soured then they'd add sugar to it and spread it on toast, muffins, etc. That was her favorite childhood food memory. I wondered if "clotted cream" was something like my MIL's description of the cream they had on the farm 80 years ago???

Feathers I make lemon curd all the time as there are an abundance of lemons for free and oranges make a nice change too. I usually do mine in a bowl over a pan of boiling water, and I find that as soon as the little bit of foam starts to fold in its ready...gotta love it :D

You can also make a lemon cheese in which you add soft cheese, I don't have the recipe to hand but if you do a google seach you will find it :D

Mmmmmm yes, it is a British favourite, especially with this Brit! I always have a jar in my fridge and prefer it to jam. FOr some reason it is nice with cheese. I use to sandwich my Victoria Sponge cakes together instead of jam too.

Hi PrettyKitty: We, too are using the curd in place of jam. Haven't tried it with cheese so I'm going to do that. Do you sweeten the cream cheese? I've hurd of "clotted cream" (which I think must be like cream cheese) and curd. Do you make your own curd or do you buy it? I haven't seen it in our stores as "curd." We can buy cans of "lemon pudding/pie filling" but the curd seems to have a completely different taste and texture. I do love both.

I made a lemon cake recently and used the curd between the layers of the cake and just spooned sliced fresh strawberries that were sweetened with a bit of sugar and a bit of whip cream over the cake... To die for!!!! is how good that was.

I also made a sugar cookie recipe and lined the tiny muffin cups with cookie dough and baked the cookie and just before serving I added the lemon curd with just a bit of whip cream and it was wonderful. I'll do that again but you can't add the curd until just before serving as the cookie soaks up the moisture and won't hold together if you assemble the dessert too early.

Hi Feathers, when I said cheese, I meant sliced cheese, such as cheddar! Weird, I know, but there is nothing as good as a cheese and lemon curd sandwich, made with thickly cut fresh bread, sliced cheddar (mild for me, don't like the strong stuff) and thickly spread lemon curd.

PrettyKitty and Izy: Thanks for the website and for the suggestion that you can make orange curd. I may have to try that with oranges since the lemon curd has been such a success. I gave some of the curd to a friend to serve at a church tea and I was told it was the highlight of the tea and everyone wanted the recipe. The Wikopedia website kinda does describe what my MIL said they use to do with the cream on the back of the wood stove. Thanks for your suggestions and comments.